Bullet sizer and greaser



c. R. PETERSON BULLE T SIZER AND GBEASER Filed Aug. 18, 1954 C! A. PETIPION 5 IN VENT OR Patented Nov. 5, 1935 UNITED STATES BULLETSIZER AND GREASER Clarence R. Peterson, San Diego, Calif. Application August 18, 1934, Serial No. 740,467

14 Claims.

This invention relates to mechanism involved in the work cycle of sizing and greasing a bullet.

It has become a widely practiced custom amongst amateur sportsmen,'police officers. riflemen and the like to re-load their blank cartridges and thus save considerable expense over. having to purchase new ammunition each time target practice or game shooting and the like is indulged in to test ones marksmanship.

When such activity is practiced it becomes necessary for the several individuals to provide their own bullets and such bullets are either cast at home and carried to the place of shooting, or both cast and reloaded into the blank cartridges at the rifle ranges or places of shooting.

In either event the bullets, as they come from the mold, are not cast exactly true to the correct.

calibration. Hencethey are not at once ready to be placed in the cartridge container and accordingly must be sized. In addition to the sizing operation the well known greasing operation must also be performed.

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a fast and accessible hand operated tool which is portable and wherein the operation of sizing and greasing a hand or otherwise cast bullet takes place completely in a single work cycle thereby saving considerable time in performing the operation.

Further objects and features of the invention reside in the details of construction, the novel combination and arrangement of parts all of which will be later described in detail in the disclosure following, and particularly pointed out in what is claimed.

The device as now reduced to practice is shown in the accompanying drawing and comprises the following figures:-

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the invention, some parts being broken away to show details of parts otherwise hidden from view.

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the magazine for manually feeding the bullets to the sizing and greasing die.

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are longitudinal cross sections taken thru the sizing die and fragmentally show a portion of the bullet punch and illustrate the various stages of operation the bullet passes thru in the work cycle of sizing and greasing.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, the numeral l indicates the base whereby, by means of screws 2, the device as a whole may be mounted upon a support 3.

The base i is provided with a raised portion I :1: having therein a rew greatest sweet '4 as which is screwed one end of the pipe 5, the other end of said pipe being also threaded so as to have screwed thereonto the sealing nut 6. The base I is also provided with'spaced cylindrical sockets into which are fitted andsecured guide rods ;1 5 and 8.

There is mounted on the pipe 5, in spaced relation to said base, a casting part 9 having a yoked extremity 9a providing a fulcrum seatupon which is pivotally mounted the lever I0. On the 10 pipe 5, in spaced relation to the casting 9 and the base I, is mounted a second casting or part II, the latter part having a cylindrical socket in which is fitted the upper end of the rod 1, and a cylindrical bore in'which is fitted the upper end of the rod 8.

A ram I2 is slidingly' mounted on the guide rods 1 and 8, and said ram is provided-with sufiiciently protruding stock adjacent its sliding. mounting for having tapped into it the bullet punch l 3.

In the base I, in axial alinement with the threaded socket whereinto the punch I3 is screwed, is drilled or otherwise formeda cylindrical opening 14 into which may be detachably secured the sizing and greasing die l5. g V

The die I5 is shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 on a rather small scale and in Fig. 1 on. a more enlarged scale. The body portion of the die is made cylindrical to conform to the opening l4 into which it is fitted, and there is an' annular flange 30 I6 near its top face which rests on the base 1, whereby its position is maintained thereon. The die has a sizing opening I! extending axially therethru, and the bullet l9 passes thru this opening in two separate stages during the work cycle; one stage being that of sizing, and the other being that of greasing. Said die has a flared entrance opening 20 into which the bullets are first manually fed one at a time incident to sizing, audit is at this point of entrance that theogival socket 2|v of the punch I3 is properly engaged with theogival portion of the bullet, so that the passage'of the bullet thru the die, when the ram is 'depressed,'may be axial and concentric with the opening' l I as well as with the bullet punch and. socket 2|. 1 V

Thedie I5 is provided with an annular recess 22 extending circumferentially therearound, and there are parts 23 and 24 in stepped relation with one another which communicate withsaid recess. 0

Said ports register with the grease grooves of the bullet after the completion of the work cycle of sizinghas been completed. In the wall of the base eommunicating with the opening [4 is an aperture 25 wherethru a grease or lubricant 261$ 16 bullet.

ejected into said recess, there being other passages 21 and 28 which are drilled in the base I for the purpose of conducting the lubricant 26 from the pipe 5 to the recess 22 as will be presently described.

The passage 21 is drilled in the base I concentric with and opening into the aperture 25, and the passage 28 is drilled laterally to the passage 21 so as to intersect the same and connect with the bottom wall of the socket4 thru which the lubricant is first dispensed. Passage 28 is closed from the outside by means of the screw stud 29.

In the wall of the base I is fitted a bushing 39 which terminates at the point of intersection of the passages 21 and 28. In this bushing is slidingly fitted a plunger 3|. Said plunger is provided with a fiat head 32 and between this head and the wall of said base is fitted a com pression spring 33 to keep the point 34 of the plunger normally retracted to a point. approximately in line withthe end ofthe'bushing 30 as dottedly indicated.

The head 32 of the plunger. 3| contacts with the lower end of the lever l0 which bears thereagainst at all times so as to be in readiness for the continuance of the work cycle which inguiderods I and 8 will now be described' That. portion of the ram which wastermed as the protruding stock is'fitted with anfintegral upstanding pair of jaws 33a and 33b and between them is pivotally mounted one end of the lever 34 by means of the pin 35. Said lever has its other end pivotally mounted between the jaws 36 of the link 31 by means of the pin 38. The lever 34 and the link 31 jointly form a toggle-joint, the elbow of which predeterminedly contacts with the adjustable operating bolt 39 coincidentally with that part of the work cycle which begins the greasing operation. I

The link 31 is mounted upon a shaft 40 which extends transversely thru the topmost portion of the casting l I, and thru that portion of the shaft which extends beyond said casting is inserted an operating lever 4| provided with a hand grip 42 screwed thereonto. Said lever- 4| is held in fixed relation to the shaftAll by means of a stud 43 tapped into the free endof the shaft so as to bear thereagainst. 7

The link 31 as well as the lever 4| has a definite angular spacing on the shaft 40'on which they are mounted. The lever 41 is manually operated to perform the work of sizing, and greasing'the I term the cycle thru which the lever 4i moves thruout the time it is manipulated from the position A, thru position B, and downto and including position C, which concludes the greasing operation, a working cycle. In this cycle by virtue of the definite relation'which the link 31 and the lever 4f bear to the shaft 40,

. tional adjustment.

I bolt in and out of the sealing nut 6. "head contains an internally threaded bore 51 bullet is sized and the next bullet to be sized is caused to take its place. After the train of mechanism, including the lever 34 andthe link 31, has advanced the bullet tozthe position of greasing, that position being the end 01, the maximum stroke of lever 34 and link 31, the pin 38 and the toggle-joint or elbow immediately pass dead center and the parts which originally advanced the bullet to the greasing stage now start retracting carrying with them the bullet punch l3, which up to that'tirne remained in contact with the bullet. After passing dead center the elbow aforementioned starts upon the work cycle of operating the bolt 39 to perform the greasing operation. The description of'those parts which are The bolt 39 aforementioned is slidingly mounted in a drilled slot provided therefor in the casting H, and in the same plane with the movable parts 34 and 3'! so that the elbow of the togglejoint will contact with the head 44 of the. bolt 39 immediately upon reaching dead center. Said head 44 is of a polygonal shape and may have a wrench applied thereto for adjusting the distance between it and the elbow whereby the stroke ofJthe'pIunger 3 I is regulated.

For the purpose of arriving at a definite form of adjustability wherein I regulate the plunger stroke, I slot the free end of the bolt 39 and tap thereinto a stud bolt 45; having a slottedhead 46 into which the upper end of the lever I0 plays. Rotating the head 44 in a clockwise direction diminishes the plunger stroke and rotating the ,head in an anti-clockwise direction increases the plunger stroke. The fact that the bolt where- .into the stud 45 is tapped is slotted insures that the bolt will remain fixed in the selected rota- The lever I0 is tiltingly mounted in the yoked extremity of the casting is by means of the pin 41. This'fixed relation of the lever and casting insures the contactability of the ends of the lever with'its cooperating parts 'at all times.

Returningnow to the description of the parts associated with the pipe 5, which has already been described asbeing screwed into the socket 4 and providing a support for the castings 9 and I l, as Well as a chamber from which the special lubricating compound 26 is dispensed, said parts are correlated in such a manner as to insure an automatic feed of the lubricant from the pipe chamber from which it is dispensed. This automatism is accomplishedby mechanism comprising a yieldably' applied floating'piston construction including a piston 48 having a sealing ring 49 into which 7 described later, the removal of the piston assembly may be effected. Around the piston rod and resting upon the exposed face of the piston is wound a coiled spring 52. 7 Upon said spring is placed a spring seat member 53 and compression is set up .inthe spring by screwing a' compression bolt 54 thru the sealing nutG and causing the end of said 0 bolt to bear upon said seat member. Said bolt 54 is provided with an internal bore 55 into which the piston rod may extend as the spring is compressed fron'rtime to time to cause pressure to be exerted on the lubricant.

acid-79b which is screwable onto the threaded portion}! of'the piston rod 50 to provide means for applying traction when it is desired to remove the piston 48 from the pipe 5 for thepurpose of adding a new forth in the preceding-descriptioml provide a bullet guide'attachment 51 which maybe applied to the holes 58 in the base I by means of suitable screws tapped thereinto. i i

Fig. 2 shows the attachment in perspective. Said attachment comprises an attaching arm 58 provided with holes 59 thru which the attaching screws are inserted to fasten it to the basej' said arm depends from a bullet race-way 60 whichis stepped'to a higher level in order to extend over the mouth of the die. The manner in which the bullets are fed thru the race-way into the die is clearly taught'by the drawing.

The work cycle of sizing and greasing begins at the time the handle 42 is grasped at position B, which is the normal resting position of all the parts. From this point the handle is elevated to position A thus permitting-a bullet to be fed thru the bullet-race 60, by the hand 6|, into the die IS. The use of the magazine feed is optional since the hand 6| can hold a supply of bullets and they can be inserted by the fingers immediately into the tapered mouth of the die. 7

In order to place the device in readiness for operation, the die is properly inserted in the raised portion of the base, the bolt 39 and stud 45 are properly adjusted, and the reservoir is supplied with the proper lubricant upon which pressure is being applied from the spring 52 sufhciently at least to cause the grease to exude thru the various channels until its appearance is noted at the ports 23 and 24 in the die. 1

When the handle 42 is at position A parts 34 and 31 are in the dottedly indicated position. Manually depressing the handle '42 from this position causes parts 34 and 31 to advance the'ram l2 containing the bullet punch l3 downwardly until the ogival socket 2| contacts with the ogival head of the bullet whence the sizing operation begins. Continuing the downward stroke the parts 34 and 31 will reach the limit of their'stroke which is position B of the lever 4|; the bullet will thereupon be sized and placed in greasing position as shown in Figs. 1 and 4. V

Concurrently the elbow of the toggle, of which the levers 34 and 31 form the parts, conta'ctwith the head 44 of the bolt 39. Bringing pressure to bear upon the handle 42 by the hand 62 at this stage of the operation causes the elbow to operate the bolt 39 to, in turn, rock the lever I!) about its pivotal support 41 from dotted to full line position. The movement of the latter-parts advances the plunger 3! in the sleeve '30 forcing the grease in the recess 22 out thru the ports 23 and 24 into the grooves of the bullet. Rotating the nut 56 on At the beginning of the greasing cycle the punch l3 will start retracting as shown in Fig. 5, thus leaving the bullet grooves in registry with the ports of the die until one greased bullet-is dis- Y placed by another to be greased. It will thus be seen that-in a singlework cycle the complete siz ing and'greasing'of-a' bullet may be effectively accomplished. a

What is claimed:

In mechanism for performing the work cycle of sizing and greasing a bullet, a support, a die havinggrease feeding channels mounted on said support, a reservoir containing grease under 10 pressure mounted on said support, therebcing a f duct communicating with said reservoir and the channels in said die, means carried by -said support wherewith to perform the sizing operation on the bullet and place it in position for greas- 1 5- ing, and means actuated by the'parts employed in performing the sizing operation to exert additional pressure on the grease to augment its flow thru said'die channels into the grease grooves of the bullet.

2. In-rnechanismfor performing the work cycle of sizing and greasing a bullet; means for sup- 7 porting a die wherewith to size said bullet, means .wherewith to feed said bullet to said die, means manuallyoperable wherewithtoperformthe sizing 2 operation and to place said bullet in position for greasing; grease feeding means including a grease feeding plunger, and said manually' operable means being operatively related to said grease feeding plunger whereby continuing the cycle there being a duct communicating with said reservoir and the interior of said die, said punch at the completion of the sizing operation advancing the groove of said bullet to a registry'position with respect to said duct, and booster means operatively related to said manually operable means for exerting additional pressure on said lubricant-to eject it into said groove. 7 r

4'. In a device of the kind described, a base, a

die mounted upon said base, said die having an elongated bullet passage extending therethru, manually operable means mounted upon said base to force a bullet thru said passage in order to perform the bullet sizing operation, a grease reservoinincluding a floating piston under pressure'mounted upon said base having a feeding passage communicating with the passage in said die, and pressure means automatically actuable by said manually operable means toaccelerate the 0 feeding ofthe grease into the: die thru said grease feeding passage.

5. In a device of thekind described, a base, a detachable die supported by said base, means attached to said base for manually feeding a 55 bullet to said die, a ram including a punch wherewith to perform the sizing operation of said bullet, manually operable'means to operate said ram,

a reservoir containing a lubricant under pressure) there being aduct communicating with said "reservoir and theinteriorof said die, said punch at the completion of'the sizing operation advancing the groove of said bullet to a registry position with respect to'said duct, auxiliary means operable by said manually-operable means for'addi- '5 a and-the other end being threaded and screwed into said piston, a coil spring wound around said piston rod and resting upon said piston for exerting pressure on said lubricant, a spring seat resting upon the exposed end of said spring, a compression bolt screwed into the internally threaded reduced portion of said nut, the inner end of said bolt engaging said seat to compress said spring, said bolt having an internal bore into which the threaded end of said piston rod extends assaid bolt is screwed down to compress said spring, and

said bolt having its exposed end internally threaded to screw onto the end of said rod whereby to withdraw said piston from said chamber.

7. In a device of the kind described, a base having an opening for receiving a bullet sizing and greasing die, there being a socket in said base i and greasechannels communicating with said socket and said opening, means screwed into said socket and providing a receptacle for the storage of a grease, mechanism mounted upon said means exerting a pressure on said grease to cause it to 1 automatically exude thru said channels into said opening, and other means exerting additional pressure on said grease to augment the exuding thereof. a

8; Ina device of the kind described, a base having an opening for receiving a bullet sizing and greasing die, there being a socket in said base and grease channels communicating with said socket and said opening, means screwedinto said socketand providing a receptacle for the storage of grease, mechanism including a floating piston, and means mounted upon said piston exerting a pressure on said grease to cause it to automatically exude thru said channels into said opening, a plunger mounted in said base and projectable into said channels to .exert additional pressure on said grease whereby to augment the exudation thereof, and mechanism mounted upon said device to operate said plunger.

9. In a device of the kind described, a base having an opening for receiving a bullet sizing and greasing die, there being a socket in said base and, greasechannels communicating with said socket and said opening, means screwed into said socket and providing a receptacle for'the storage of grease, mechanism including a floating piston and meansmounted upon said piston exerting a pressure on said grease to cause it to automatically exude thru said channels into said opening,

a plunger mounted in said base and projectable into said channels to exert additional pressure on said grease whereby to augment the exudation thereof, and mechanism mounted upon said device to operate said plunger, saidmechanism ineluding adjustable means for varying the stroke of said plunger.

10. In a device of the kind descrlbed, abase having an opening for receiving a: bullet sizing and greasing die, there being a socket in said base and grease channels communicating with said socket and said opening, means screwed into said socket and providing a receptacle for the storage of grease, mechanism including a floating piston and means mounted upon said piston exerting a pressure on said grease to cause it to automatically exude thru said channels into 5 said opening, a plunger mounted in said base and projectableinto said channels to exert additional pressure on said grease whereby to augment the exudation thereof, and' mechanism mounted upon said device to operate said plunger, said mechanism including adjustable means comprising parts fixedly held-in selective rotational adjustment for varying the stroke of said plunger. r

11. In a device of the kind described, a base having an opening for receiving a bullet sizing and greasing die, there being a socket in said base and grease channels communicating with said socket and said opening, means screwed into saidsocket and providing a receptacle for the storage of'grease, mechanism ,includinga floating piston and means mounted upon said piston exerting a pressure on said grease to cause it to automatically exude thru said channels into said opening, a plunger. mounted in said base and projectable into said channels to exert additional pressure on, said grease whereby to augment the exudation thereof, mechanism mounted upon said device to operate said plunger, said mechanism including adjustable means comprising :0 parts fixedly held in selective rotational adjustment, and a lever operated by said parts for actuating said plunger.

12. In a device of the kind described, a base,

a die mounted upon said base, said die having an elongated bullet passage therethru, manually operable means mounted upon said base to force a bullet thru said passage in order to perform the bullet sizing operation, a grease reservoir mounted upon said base having a feeding passage como municating with the passage extending thru said die, a piston afloat on said grease, yieldable means acting on said piston to exert pressure on said grease, and means automatically actuable by said manually operable means whereby to exert ,5 additional pressure on said grease to accelerate the feeding thereof into the diethru said grease feeding passage to automatically accelerate the feeding of the grease into the die thru said grease feeding passage, said means being operatively related to said manually operable meansand being timed to feed the grease to the bullet during its passage thru said die.

13. In a device of the kind described, a base,

a die mounted thereupon, said die having a bulletpassage therethru, aram movable lengthwise of said passage to force a bullet therethru, means vto operatively mount said ram upon said base,

as recited lever.

14. A support, a bullet sizing die having grease feeding channels mounted on saidsupport; a reservoir containing a lubricant mounted on said support, therebeing a duct in said support lead- 15 ing from said reservoir to said die channels, means wherewith to feed a. bullet to said die, means carried by said support to perform the sizing operation on said bullet and place its grooves in juxtaposition with said channels for greasing, and means mounted on said support and actuated by the parts which perform' the sizing operation to exert pressure on said lubricant to cause it to flow thru said die channels into the grooves of the bullet. V

CLARENCE R. PETERSON. 

